Quick start

Get Kanban running and complete your first agent task in minutes. No account required.

Kanban works from any git repository. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to configure before your first run.

Kanban must be run from the root of a git repository. It uses git worktrees to isolate each task, so a git repo is required.

1. Start Kanban

   Run Kanban directly with npx, or install it globally first:

   # Run directly — no install required
   npx kanban
   

   # Or install globally and run
   npm i -g kanban
   kanban
   

   Run either command from the root of your git repo. Kanban starts a local web server and opens the board in your browser.

   If Kanban is already running on the default port, the new invocation detects the existing server and reconnects to it instead of starting a second instance.

2. The board opens in your browser

   The Kanban board loads automatically at the local server URL (default: http://127.0.0.1:3484). Each column on the board represents a task state: Backlog, In progress, Review, and Trash.

3. Create your first task

   Create a task in one of two ways:

   • Click Add task to type a task description directly onto a card.
   • Open the sidebar chat and ask your agent to break down a piece of work into tasks. Kanban injects board-management instructions into that session, so you can ask it to add tasks, link them together, or start work on your behalf.
4. Start the agent

   Click the play button on a card. Kanban creates an isolated git worktree for the task and launches your installed agent inside it. The card updates in real time with the agent’s latest message or tool call as it works.

   To link two cards so the second starts automatically when the first completes, Cmd+click (or Ctrl+click) one card onto another.

5. Review changes and commit

   Click any in-progress card to open its terminal and a diff of all changes in that worktree. You can leave comments on individual diff lines and send them back to the agent for revision.

   When the work looks good, click Commit to have the agent commit the changes to your base branch, or Open PR to create a pull request branch. Kanban sends a prompt to the agent to handle any merge conflicts.

   Enable auto-commit on a card to skip review entirely — the agent commits as soon as it finishes.

CLI flags

You can pass the following flags when launching Kanban:

Flag	Description
--host <ip>	Host IP to bind the server to. Defaults to 127.0.0.1.
--port <number|auto>	Port number (1–65535) or auto to find a free port automatically.
--no-open	Start the server without opening a browser tab automatically.

# Example: bind to all interfaces on a specific port
kanban --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4000

# Example: start without opening a browser
kanban --no-open